Liam Barnes

Small Firms Are Deploying AI in Days. BigLaw Is Still Forming Committees.

Jan 28, 2026

Why speed beats budget in the 2026 AI race, and how large firms can catch up.

Agentic Legal AI: What's Real and What's Not

Jan 21, 2026

Why the shift from assistive AI to autonomous workflows matters—and where most firms are getting it wrong.

Stop Cutting Junior Associates. You're Borrowing Profitability From 2033.

Jan 14, 2026

AI is eliminating 60–80% of the work that used to train junior associates into partners—and firms responding by cutting headcount are borrowing profitability from their future selves. Inside: the 3-step framework to redesign associate training in Q1 2026 (before your competitors do) and why Ropes & Gray is now giving billable credit for AI learning.

81% of Legal Teams Use Unauthorized AI (And One Upload Can Waive Privilege Forever)

Jan 7, 2026

One upload to consumer ChatGPT can waive attorney-client privilege permanently—and 81% of legal departments are using unauthorized AI right now. This week: how to eliminate shadow AI by building your own system with contractual data isolation guarantees (deployable in 2-8 weeks).

Why High-Performing Firms Are 3× More Likely to Have Partners Who Use AI Themselves

Dec 31, 2025

McKinsey's 2025 research reveals the pattern firms are missing: AI adoption doesn't scale from policy memos or training sessions. It scales when managing partners personally use the tools and say one sentence in a meeting: "I used this." Inside: the four-step role-model cascade that drives firm-wide adoption, how to neutralize the two biggest partner fears, and a pre-built workflow you can test this Monday.

What's the Best AI for Legal?

Dec 17, 2025

Stop looking for one 'perfect' legal AI. But there is a best model (as of Dec ‘25) for your specific contract, research, and intake workflows. Here is the decision framework for Managing Partners and Ops leaders to find it.

Harvey, OpenAI and the Quiet AI Bubble: How To Bubble-Proof Your Firm Before Prices Spike

Dec 10, 2025

Most legal teams are betting on AI vendors with business models that only work if prices keep rising. This edition gives you a simple, scenario‐based plan to keep your workflows running and your costs under control if the AI bubble quietly starts to deflate.

Can Harvey and Lexis+ AI Be Outdone by Open-Source LLMs?

Dec 3, 2025

Harvey and Lexis+ AI built their advantage on proprietary data and scale. But for about six months now, fine-tuned open-source models have been delivering comparable performance, while giving legal teams data control, strategic autonomy, and dramatically lower costs.

The #1 AI fear across 47 legal forums (and the 5 skills that solve it)

Nov 26, 2025

89 lawyers asked this anonymously. Get the verification system + 5 skills that separate thriving lawyers from replaced ones.

Lawyers Need to Become AI Directors (Not AI Experts)

Nov 19, 2025

Your lawyers don't need to become 'techies' or AI experts. They need to shift from executing tasks manually, or using AI in a manual way, to orchestrating AI to handle the execution - the same way they'd brief a junior associate. Legal teams making this shift are saving 6-10 hours per week on contract review and discovery, and inside you'll find two simple frameworks to get started.

Why Are More Legal Ops Teams Building AI Workflows in ChatGPT?(Not $15K Platforms)

Nov 12, 2025

Lawyers already live in ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude. Increasingly legal ops teams have stopped fighting that reality and started building workflows where adoption is virtually guaranteed. Here's the privacy-first playbook that makes it work—without exposing client data.

Build vs Buy: Can Your Firm DIY a 'Harvey-Class' Legal Copilot for $15K?

Nov 5, 2025

You can build an 80%-capable legal copilot for under $17K using using inexpensive off‐the‐shelf tools — but should you? Here's the tech stack, the real Total Cost of Ownership numbers, and a decision matrix that tells you whether to build, buy, or do both.

AI Pilot Purgatory: Why 78% of Law Firms Kill AI Before Launch

Oct 28, 2025

Most law firms don’t fail at AI because the tech doesn’t work—they fail because they skip three steps before signing a vendor contract. We take a look at why your last pilot probably died quietly in a Slack channel no one checks—and the 8‐week framework that actually scales.

Stop reading about AI. Start implementing it.

Oct 22, 2025

The only newsletter that shows law firms exactly how to successfully implement AI and automations - from business cases to measurable results."

Liam Barnes

Small Firms Are Deploying AI in Days. BigLaw Is Still Forming Committees.

Agentic Legal AI: What's Real and What's Not

Stop Cutting Junior Associates. You're Borrowing Profitability From 2033.

81% of Legal Teams Use Unauthorized AI (And One Upload Can Waive Privilege Forever)

Why High-Performing Firms Are 3× More Likely to Have Partners Who Use AI Themselves

What's the Best AI for Legal?

Harvey, OpenAI and the Quiet AI Bubble: How To Bubble-Proof Your Firm Before Prices Spike

Can Harvey and Lexis+ AI Be Outdone by Open-Source LLMs?

The #1 AI fear across 47 legal forums (and the 5 skills that solve it)

Lawyers Need to Become AI Directors (Not AI Experts)

Why Are More Legal Ops Teams Building AI Workflows in ChatGPT?(Not $15K Platforms)

Build vs Buy: Can Your Firm DIY a 'Harvey-Class' Legal Copilot for $15K?

AI Pilot Purgatory: Why 78% of Law Firms Kill AI Before Launch

Stop reading about AI. Start implementing it.

Stop Reading About AI.
Profit from It.

Need help implementing AI into your legal processes?

Cyberaktive is an AI Transformation partner to the legal industry.

Discovery > Strategy > Development & Implementation > Coaching & Adoption.

Book an introductory call.

Liam Barnes

Small Firms Are Deploying AI in Days. BigLaw Is Still Forming Committees.

Agentic Legal AI: What's Real and What's Not

Stop Cutting Junior Associates. You're Borrowing Profitability From 2033.

81% of Legal Teams Use Unauthorized AI (And One Upload Can Waive Privilege Forever)

Why High-Performing Firms Are 3× More Likely to Have Partners Who Use AI Themselves

What's the Best AI for Legal?

Harvey, OpenAI and the Quiet AI Bubble: How To Bubble-Proof Your Firm Before Prices Spike

Can Harvey and Lexis+ AI Be Outdone by Open-Source LLMs?

The #1 AI fear across 47 legal forums (and the 5 skills that solve it)

Lawyers Need to Become AI Directors (Not AI Experts)

Why Are More Legal Ops Teams Building AI Workflows in ChatGPT?(Not $15K Platforms)

Build vs Buy: Can Your Firm DIY a 'Harvey-Class' Legal Copilot for $15K?

AI Pilot Purgatory: Why 78% of Law Firms Kill AI Before Launch

Stop reading about AI. Start implementing it.

Stop Reading About AI. Profit from It.

Need help implementing AI into your legal processes?

Cyberaktive is an AI Transformation partner to the legal industry. Discovery > Strategy > Development & Implementation > Coaching & Adoption. Book an introductory call.

Stop Reading About AI.
Profit from It.

Cyberaktive is an AI Transformation partner to the legal industry.

Discovery > Strategy > Development & Implementation > Coaching & Adoption.

Book an introductory call.